YuGiOh! Delta: Dan & Leah's Story
by Rebster6
Summary: In this story, a girl named Leah and a boy named Dan tell the tale of how they aquired their Numbers, how it almost destroyed their friendship, and how it eventually drove them to become Number hunters. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Episode 1: Dan & Leah's Story

"HAHA... did you see his face?" Leah said, bursting into laughter the moment they were out of earshot.

Dan, likewise, was struggling to maintain a straight face. "Hey now, that's not very nice." He said seriously. Then he, too, started to laugh. "It was pretty funny though, wasn't it?"

"What a complete... AHAHAHA!" Leah gasped, struggling to maintain a coherent sentence through the laughter. "He... the moment he played that card, he knew he'd done it something wrong. It took him forever to figure out what... oh god," she laughed, gasping for air. Dan was laughing just as hard by this point.

The pair of them were walking home after a particularly humorous duel with the school's show-off, Harrison Carter. He was an Insect-type user, and not a very good one. He left gaps in his strategies the size of zeppelins, and was very prone to making mistakes during duels. After he did so, he would become embarrassed and run off home, only to come back the next day bubbling with confidence again.

Today's escapade had been particularly amusing. During a duel with Dan, Harrison had activated the Spell Card Pot of Avarice, shuffled the five monsters into his Deck as per usual, then decided it would be a good idea to put his Deck back into his duel disk upside down. His duel disk then refused to allow Harrison to draw his two cards, causing him to become more and more confused, and eventually became convinced that his duel disk had malfunctioned, before the sniggering of his classmates had alerted him otherwise.

It took him another full minute of head scratching and frantic checking (which caused further merriment from the rest of the class) until he spotted the problem, whereupon he had turned bright red and bolted from the room to escape the embarrassment. The augmented reality faded a few seconds later as the connection was lost.

Most of the rest of the class had immediately collapsed into hysterics the moment Harrison left, but as some of Harrison's friends were still in the room, Dan and Leah had managed to control themselves until the bell went five minutes later, and they were outside the school gates and well away from the rest of the students. At this point they could contain themselves no longer.

"Oh god... I'm gonna die..." Leah giggled, trying in vain to get a grip on herself.

"We've got to rib him about this tomorrow," Dan laughed, "though I bet he won't even remember by then."

"Yeah," Leah agreed, finally getting her laughter under control. "Either that or he won't care. He's like that."

They carried on walking for a bit, chatting about the events of the day, passing through the park – where many of the students had already gathered to duel – and onto the path down by the river, which would lead them past both of their houses. Occasionally, one of them would burst into fits of giggles again, which inevitably set the other one off, until they managed to stifle their laughter again and quickly resume their previous topic.

They walked home together in this manner almost every day, and when they did, they talked about every subject under the sun. Eventually, this particular topic turned philosophical, and Leah turned to Dan and randomly asked, "Do you believe in other dimensions?"

"Of course I do," said Dan, seeming genuinely surprised. "Why would anyone think otherwise?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you have the dimension we live in, the three-dimensional world. Then, you can take a piece of paper and call it two-dimensional, although that's not strictly true-"

Leah gave him a playful push. "You know what I mean!"

Dan laughed as he staggered and regained his balance. "Ok, ok, in all seriousness... hmm... I have to say I don't know. I want to believe there is, but if there was how would you know? More to the point, how would you search for it?" Leah shrugged, having no more idea than him. "Anyway, if there is such a thing, is certainly something we don't want to be messing with. And besides," he grinned at her, "I have enough trouble dealing with one of you, let alone potentially infinite copies."

Leah shoved him again, but this time with a bit more force than she intended, because Dan overbalanced, slithered straight down the grass embankment and straight into the river. He rose back to the surface, spluttering and coughing, and quickly swam back to the side. Leah collapsed to the ground, convulsing with laughter at Dan's predicament. Despite this, she managed to use her D-Gazer to get a few shots of him struggling to get up the bank, and looking at these pictures only made her laugh harder. As he pulled himself out of the water, she jumped to her feet and ran for it. Dan immediately gave chase, shouting an assortment of threats that he didn't mean a word of.

"HEY! Get back here! I'm gonna throw you off the pier! I'm gonna feed you into a combine harvester! I'm going to pay for you to have your first skydiving lesson and I'm going to pack your parachute! Except I won't! I'll keep it in my pocket and as we jump out, I'll wave it at you, then pull my own parachute and watch you fall! I'll..."

And in this manner the chase continued for another seven blocks, until they both finally became exhausted and Dan's clothes had dried out. Then they resumed walking, laughing at the pictures she had taken and at the whole scenario.

As they continued their walk home and the sun got lower, Dan brought up the topic they had been talking about before. "So, do you believe in alternate dimensions?" He asked.

Leah paused and considered, before saying, "I think there must be. How else to you explain all the unexplainable stuff in the world?"

Dan looked thoroughly bewildered. "If it's unexplainable, how on earth to you expect me to-"

"You know what I mean!" Leah interrupted.

"Of course I do." He replied with a cheeky grin. "But irritating you is so much fun. And don't pretend you wouldn't do the same thing to me."

She had to admit he was right on that one. "Anyway," she said, resuming the topic, "I do think that there are alternate dimensions, but like you said, I don't think it's worth devoting any time to."

"Agreed," said Dan as they reached Leah's house. "So I'll meet you tomorrow as usual?"

"Yep," she said cheerfully, "but remember, it's Saturday, so we're going to the park to get a few duels in."

"Sounds like fun. See you then."

"Later." She called, running down her path and into the house, shutting her front door behind her. She immediately headed upstairs, dumped her bag, sat at her desk and started preparing her Deck for the next day.

Dan was likewise preparing, but was instead doing it in his head –running over strategies, combos, and potential flaws with his Deck – so that he could get straight to work once he got home.

But something was wrong. Neither had noticed it until they had parted ways, but now they both felt uneasy. It was as though the very air was stretched thin and taught, like a sheet of elastic... a sheet with wonderful and terrible things on the other side of it.

And when that sheet tears…

* * *

><p><strong>Fun Fact #1: This whole "Fun Fact" format will continue in this manner for all future Episodes. We like it. It works for us.<br>**

**Fun Fact #2: No, Leah and Dan aren't in a relationship, nor will they be in the future. They are good friends, and nothing more.**


	2. Chapter 2

Leah was already waiting at the end of her path when Dan came jogging into view.

"And just where have you been?" She asked with mock outrage, as he skidded to a halt next to her, panting. "I've been out here for hours!"

"Well I'm sorry, your majesty," Dan replied in an overly posh voice. "But sometimes one's home and the placement of objects within said home does not lend itself to the process of the making of the haste, ma'am."

"Eh?" Said Leah, looking confused.

"I couldn't find my Extra Deck." He said simply. Leah started laughing. "It's not funny! I was working on my Deck last night, modifying it and so on, and when I was done I put everything away, but I ended up storing my Extra Deck away with a bunch of my spare cards."

"Fair enough, it's easily done," said Leah, getting her giggling under control again. "C'mon, let's get going."

"Awesome." Dan replied, and they set off swiftly to the park.

*A WHILE LATER*

By the time they had both reached the park and donned their D-Gazers, it was clear that things were already well under way. There were a whole bunch of duels going on, and some looked pretty intense. Nevertheless, they spotted a few duelists that didn't seem to be doing much, so they dove straight into the crowd, over to where a bunch of guys with duel disks stood milling about, doing nothing in particular.

They got about halfway across the park before their path was blocked by a man dressed in what appeared to be a lab coat. The two of them stumbled to a halt, and stared curiously at the man, who was smiling politely at them and offering them his hand.

"Greetings, children," he said in a drawling, yet oddly calming voice. "Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Professor Usur, and I've been watching you two duel for quite a while."

"Hold on there, Professor, we mostly duel at school..." said Dan tentatively.

"Have you been spying on school kids?" Leah asked accusingly.

"No no, not at all," said the Professor hurriedly, "I meant I've been watching you duel when you come here-"

"So you wait until the school kids leave school, and then spy on them? How is that any better?" Dan said incredulously.

"No... I... never mind. Listen, both of you, I wish to talk to you two about an exciting duelling opportunity I want to offer you. Will you hear me out?"

Leah had no desire to hear him out. In fact, with regards to this man, she only had two thoughts: _'this man is creepy' _and _'I'd like to get away from this man as quickly as possible'_. She took a sideways glance at Dan, who nodded, and she knew he felt the same.

Dan cleared his throat. "It's kind of you to offer, sir, but at the moment we're not really interested in something like that. And we're just on our way to meet someone, so would you mind...?"

"Of course not, young man." The Professor did not seem perturbed by their refusal. "Have a nice day."

"You too, mister." They both said in unison, before walking past him towards the group they had been heading for.

Once they were out of earshot, Leah asked Dan quietly, "Who on earth was he?"

"I have no idea," he replied, "and unless he harasses us again, I say it's just best to forget about him."

She nodded in agreement, then focussed her attention on the group in front of her, stopping just shy of them. "I'll take the first duel," she said. "I want to shake off that encounter as soon as possible, and that group looks restless enough to accept a challenge."

"Sure thing," Dan replied, "I'll watch from back here." She nodded again, then stepped forwards and tapped the nearest one on the shoulder.

"Hey," the boy said, looking surprised as he turned round. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes," Leah replied, "you looked bored, so I wondered if you fancied a quick duel."

"A duel?" The boy glanced around at his friends, then over at the gate to the park, then back to Leah before replying. "Yeah... ok. I'm waiting for someone, but what the hell? He won't be here for another few minutes, let's duel!"

"Cool," Leah said cheerfully, but inside she felt quite the opposite of 'cool'. _'This guy… he's another one of those guys that believe girls can't duel, that duelling is a guy's club. Well… I'll show him!"_

"Duel disk, set!" Both of them triggered their duel disks; his was the standard grey, hers was forest green. "D-Gazer, set!" Since both of them already had their D-Gazers on, all they had to do was turn them on.

_"AR Vision – link established" _The field changed into the augmented reality, causing the surrounding environment to become tinged with green. Leah glanced quickly at the life point readouts, and learnt that her opponent's name was Hideo.

"DUEL!"

**Hideo LP:** 4000

**Leah LP:** 4000

"I know your about to say "ladies first", but there's no need to be courteous against me." Leah said flatly. "Go ahead, the first move is yours."

Hideo looked slightly bemused by this. "If you say so. My turn, draw."

Dan, on the other hand, knew exactly what Leah was doing. Her Deck worked best when she got to go second. Dan smiled to himself. _'It definitely makes an interesting contrast when we duel… my Deck generally likes to go first…'_

"I Summon Zubaba Buster!" A monster with black armour, a yellow cape, and a double-ended mace, appeared on the field.

Zubaba Buster: Warrior-Type/EARTH/Level 3/ATK 1800/DEF 600

"Then I'll Set one card and end my turn. Top that, lady."

Leah scowled. "My turn, draw. For my first move, I Summon Izanami!" The Spirit appeared, wearing a large, cream-coloured cloak that resembled a gi.

Izanami: Fairy-Type/Spirit/WATER/Level 4/ATK 1100/DEF 1800

"A Spirit monster," Hideo said in awe. "Man, no-one ever uses them anymore."

"Next I activate the Spell Card, **Dance of the Northern Lights**! By returning a face-up WATER Spirit monster I control to my hand, I can banish two cards from your field." Sure enough, as the Spell Card appeared, Izanami faded away into mist. Then, the Spell let off a burst of spectral lights, that surrounded Hideo's monster and face-down card – Gravity Bind – causing both to disappear.

"Wow!" Hideo said, obviously impressed.

Leah grinned. "It gets better, as now I play another Spell Card, Double Summon. This card lets me Normal Summon again this turn. So appear, Asura Priest!" The monster materialised, garbed in a red cloak.

Asura Priest: Fairy-Type/Spirit/LIGHT/Level 4/ATK 1700/DEF 1200

"Now, Asura Priest, attack him directly. Daggers of demise!" The Spirit materialised a dagger in each hand – six in total – which she threw, one after the other, at Hideo. The daggers didn't cause him any harm, but the Solid Vision still made him take a step back.

**Hideo LP:** 4000 → 2300

"Finally, I Set two cards and end my turn. And during the End Phase, Asura Priest returns to the owners hand if it was Summoned or flipped up this turn." Her two Spell/Trap Cards appeared on the field even as Asura Priest faded into mist like Izanami had. Leah smiled sweetly. "You know, I always enjoy a good challenge." Her smile then turned into a wicked smirk. "Of course, when one isn't available, I'm always prepared to take on a guy like you instead." Dan snorted with laughter.

"Oh man, I'm getting pummelled over here." Hideo moaned, who it seemed was starting to take things a bit more seriously. "I'd better step things up a notch."

"Bring it." Leah called to him, smiling confidently. "I can handle anything you throw at me."

"We'll see about that," Hideo shouted back. "It's my turn, draw!"

* * *

><p>Author-made cards:<p>

Dance of the Northern Lights  
>Quick-Play Spell Card<br>Return 1 WATER Spirit monster you control to the hand, then target 2 cards your opponent controls; banish those targets.

* * *

><p><strong>Fun Fact #3: This website keeps sending me a new email every time we upload a storychapter to our page. You don't need to do this, website. I know when things are uploaded to our page. In fact… well… I'm the one uploading them. I don't need to be doubly-reminded of that fact.**

**Fun Fact #4: We have removed the word "Episode" from the titles to avoid being shouted at, because the guidelines state that we can't have that. Therefore, we will be posting each episode as its own story (they'll still follow this format and all continuity established, they'll just be longer).  
><strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Hideo LP:** 2300

**Leah LP:** 4000

Spell & Trap Card Zone: 2 set cards

"I Summon **Micro Brawler**!" Hideo declared, as his monster materialised, resembling a toy warrior with a scythe.

**Micro Brawler: Warrior-Type/EARTH/Level 3/ATK 1500/DEF 700**

"Next, I'll activate the Spell Card, Blustering Winds. This card gives one of my monsters an extra 1000 Attack Points. I'll give them to **Micro Brawler**." The monster was suddenly surrounded by a flurry of wind, which upped its ATK.

**Micro Brawler ATK: 1500 **→** 2500**

"And now that everything's set up, I can banish Blustering Winds from my Graveyard to Special Summon Spell Striker from my hand. C'mon out, Spell Striker." Another mini-monster appeared, swinging its little hammer and attempting to look threatening.

Spell Striker: Warrior-Type/EARTH/Level 3/ATK 600/DEF 200

"Here we go then. **Micro Brawler**, attack her directly!" The first mini-monster dashed forwards to attack, but Leah was ready for it.

"Not a chance," she shouted, "Trap Card, Defense Draw, activate!" A spherical barrier formed around her, which **Micro Brawler** slammed into hard and fell to the ground, rubbing its bruised head. "This card cancels one instance of Battle Damage I receive during your turn, and lets me draw one card." Sure enough, she drew a card, and smiled as she laid eyes on it. Micro Brawler, meanwhile, was stumbling back over to Hideo's side.

"Not bad, but you won't stop me a second time! Spell Striker, attack her directly!" It was true – Leah couldn't stop a second attack. Spell Striker swung its 'mighty' hammer, knocking Leah back a step.

**Leah LP:** 4000 → 3400

"Yes!" Hideo celebrated. "With that, I end my turn. So come at me!"

Leah smiled at this guy's jubilation at damaging her even a little. _'He's obviously not used to doing well in a duel.' _She thought distractedly. _'Well, I wouldn't want to end his streak, now would I?' _"It's my turn, I draw. And I think I'll start by getting Spell Striker out of the way. I activate the Spell Card, **Skyflare of Borealis**! So by discarding one Borealis monster, I can banish 1 card on the field." After a quick consideration, she sent **Borealis Kita** to her Graveyard. "I target Spell Striker!" In the sky above them, the northern lights appeared, which made the crowd gasp and point in awe. Then there was an almighty flash of light, and a rainbow beam shot down from the lights and hit Spell Striker, annihilating it in an instant, and leaving Hideo visibly distraught. "For my next trick, I'll Summon someone familiar. Come on out, Izanami!" The same spirit from her very first move in this duel appeared once again.

Izanami: Fairy-Type/Spirit/WATER/Level 4/ATK 1100/DEF 1800

"But this time, I'll be doing something different with her." She grinned as Hideo started to look uneasy. "I activate another Spell Card, Creature Swap. This card exchanges one of my monsters with one of yours." Sure enough, Micro Brawler and Izanami dissipated, and reformed on opposite sides.

"Oh man," said Hideo, starting to panic, "and Blustering Winds hasn't worn off yet, so Micro Brawler's still really strong..."

"You know it," replied Leah. "But before I attack, I want to get a bit more out of Izanami. I activate my other Trap Card, Legacy of Yata-Garasu." The card flipped up, and Hideo recognised it.

"Ah, I know that one," he said. "that card's like Jar of Greed, it lets you draw one card, right?"

"Yes and no." Leah said. "You see, since you control a Spirit monster, I can use its second effect to draw two cards instead of one." She drew her cards.

_'Man, it never ceases to amaze me how she consistently makes that combo work…' _Dan wondered from the side-lines.

"Now I'll have **Micro Brawler** attack Izanami!" The mini monster rushed forwards to meet its target. This time its attack succeeded, and Izanami gave a pained cry before dissipating.

**Hideo LP:** 2300 → 900

"Only 900 life points left? Oh boy…" Hideo fretted. "This is bad. This is really bad…"

"I'll Set one card and end my turn." Leah's face-down appeared. "Go on, Hideo. Let's see you pull off a miraculous comeback."

**Micro Brawler: ATK 2500 **→** 1500**

Hideo just grunted and began his turn. "My turn, draw!" His face lit up as he saw his card. "Yes, finally! Took it long enough to get here." He looked up and grinned confidently at Leah, who just waited impassively. "I Summon Marauding Captain." The old-fashioned monster took to the field.

Marauding Captain: Warrior-Type/EARTH/Level 3/ATK 1200/DEF 400

"And of course, its effect lets me Summon another monster. So let's go, Achacha Archer!" The bow-toting archer appeared, shouting its name.

Achacha Archer: Warrior-Type/FIRE/Level 3/ATK 1200/DEF 600

"Achacha Archer's effect activates. When it's Summoned, you take 500 damage. Fire away, Archer!" Achacha Archer did not fire. "Hey, come on Archer, I said shoot!" The Archer exhibited a profound lack of movement.

Off to the side, Dan groaned.

"What? What's going on?" Hideo asked, totally confused.

Speaking slowly and simply, Leah said "Achacha Archer's effect only trigger's when it's Normal or Flip Summoned. You did not Normal or Flip Summon it. You Special Summoned it."

Immediately Hideo brightened up. "Oh yeah... hahaha, my bad..."

Simultaneously, Leah and Dan both gave the universal symbol of acknowledgement reserved for such an occurrence – the legendary 'facepalm'.

The people surrounding them also joined in the multi-facepalm, muttering to each other over what Hideo had just attempted. Even Achacha Archer looked exasperated.

Embarrassed, Hideo quickly resumed his turn. "Fine then, Level three Marauding Captain and Achacha Archer, Overlay!" Both warriors turned fully orange and red respectively, then shot upwards. Where they had been, a red spiral portal opened. "I use these two monsters to construct the Overlay Network… Xyz Summon! Come forth, **Different Dimension Desperado – 3D Warrior**!" The monster that rose from the portal wore an extremely tattered cloak, and generally looked like a man that had been traveling for days. It carried a short sword that was chipped in several places, and was surrounded by its two purple Overlay Units.

**D.D.D. – 3D Warrior: Warrior-Type/Xyz/DARK/Rank 3/ATK 1500/DEF 1500 – 2 OLU**

"Now I use 3D Warrior's effect. By detaching one of its Overlay Units, I can destroy and banish all Level three monsters on the field, and increase its ATK by 1000 for each." One of the purple Overlay Units broke its orbit and flew into the warrior's sword. "And since you still control my **Micro Brawler**, I'll destroy that!" The warrior leapt forwards, showing a surprising turn of speed, and slashed away the stolen monster. It then folded its arms in front of its face as its power increased.

**D.D.D. - 3D Warrior: 2 **→** 1 OLU**

**D.D.D. – 3D Warrior: ATK 1500 **→** 2500**

"3D Warrior, direct attack!" The warrior was already in range of Leah, so it immediately swung at her. She, however, was ready.

"I activate the Trap Card, Mirror Force!" The Trap flipped up, and everyone gasped at it. "Simply put, it destroys all your monsters in Attack Position when you attack – in this case, your 3D Warrior!" Rays of light shot from the Trap Card, vaporising the warrior before it could land its attack.

"Aw man, foiled again." Hideo said, disheartened. Then his mood brightened as he checked his hand – he was also holding a Mirror Force Trap Card. _'With this, I can prevent her from attacking me directly, clear her field of any monster she tries to Summon, then mount a counterattack on my next turn!' _"I place one card face-down, turn end!" Hideo's mystery card appeared on the field.

Leah looked bemused for a second. She examined her hand. Then Hideo's field. Then her hand again. Finally, she turned to Dan and winked.

Dan smiled. "That irritating Spirit... you have it in your hand, don't you?"

She smiled back. "Damn straight I do." She turned back to Hideo – who by now was somehow managing to look perplexed, excited, and nervous at the same time – and said. "Alright then. It's my turn, draw!" She didn't even glance at her drawn card, but rather put it straight into her hand and instead grabbed another card from her hand. "I Summon Yaksha," she said, causing a blue-skinned spirit with black spikey hair and a loincloth to materialise, shouting as it swung its blade.

Yaksha: Fairy-Type/Spirit/WATER/Level 4/ATK 1900/DEF 1500

Leah grinned again, and prepared for the finisher. "Yaksha's effect activates." The monster's sword began to glow. "When its Normal Summoned, I can return one card from your Spell and Trap Zone to your hand." The Spirit slashed at the air, sending a pulse of blue wind at Hideo's face-down Mirror Force Card, which flew back to his hand. Hideo's visual expressions condensed into one of shock. "Yaksha, attack him directly!" The monster sped forwards and slashed once again at Hideo, knocking him onto his back.

**Hideo LP:** 900 → 0

**Leah LP: **3400 [WINNER]

The claxon sounded and the augmented reality dissipated. Hideo removed his D-Gazer and struggled into a sitting position. Leah, who had also removed her D-Gazer, walked over to him and held out a hand to help him up. He allowed her to pull him to his feet.

"Man, that was a good duel." He said cheerfully. "You destroyed me out there. You're really good."

"Thank you." She replied, smiling. "I had a lot of fun, thank you for the duel."

"You're welcome, sweetie. Have a good day now."

"You too." She said, and turned to walk back to Dan. The exact nanosecond Hideo could no longer see her face, her expression changed from a polite smile to a look of disgust as she made her way through the crowd to Dan. "Sweetie!" She hissed the moment Dan was in earshot. "Did that guy seriously just call me sweetie?"

Dan stifled a grin. "What problem do you have with the word 'sweetie'?"

"Nothing against the word, plenty against the guys who use it!" She had reached him by this point, and walked straight past him, expecting him to follow, which he did. "Honestly, I don't know whether I'm more angry or disgusted, so I'm going for a mix of both."

Dan caught up and fell into pace alongside her. "Well, clearly what you need is another duel to take your mind off it and vent a little."

Leah looked at him, her fury replaced with a happy amusement. "What, you're going to duel me?"

"That's what we usually do," he replied confidently. "Besides, the last time you tried to vent your anger in a duel, you ended up punching the opponent in the arm when they beat you."

She looked bemused. "When was that? And who?"

Instead of answering, Dan smiled and rolled up his sleeve to show the bruise. Leah started giggling. "Oh yeah, that. My bad." She straightened her face and nodded. "Sure, let's have a duel. I mean seriously, we haven't duelled once since yesterday, we wouldn't want fall out of practise, would we?"

Dan laughed. "No, no we wouldn't." He rooted around in his bag looking for his duel disk, then groaned. "Ah, son of a walrus."

"What's wrong?"

He looked at her with exasperation. "My duel disk; I left it at home, I need to run back and get it."

Leah laughed at him. "You total moron. Fine, let's head back and get your duel disk, then we'll come back here."

"Alrighty… hopefully all the excitement won't be all over by the time we get back." He said, making for the gates.

"If it has, I'm definitely blaming you." She replied, turning to keep up with him, and brushing past a boy with scruffy black hair in the process.

And at that exact moment, the two to them were closer to this world's first Number holder than they would ever realise.

*A FEW MINUTES LATER*

They were walking along the same riverside path as before, chatting about the duel, and laughing at Hideo's unfortunate mistake.

"I wonder if we can get a hat-trick of stupid plays by the end of the day." Leah wondered, making Dan chuckle.

"The way we're going at the moment, it seems likely, doesn't it?" Something flickered in the corner of Dan's eye, something over the surface of the water. He turned to look at it, but could see nothing but the movement of the water.

Leah noticed him look. "What is it?" She asked, leaning her head past him to get a better view.

"I'm not sure, some sort of-" the air over the water shimmered, like in a heat haze. It was only visible for a second, and then faded away again. He stopped abruptly. "There! Tell me you saw that."

Leah stopped too. "Yeah, I did, what was-"

Without warning, the air in front of them over the river was ripped apart by a colossal explosion. The two of them were flung back against the grassy slope, covering their eyes and ears from the blast, which had originated from nowhere, yet eminated from a point right next to the bank. They had no sooner hit the ground from the first explosion when a second one, just as intense, pushed them further up the slope, and pelted then with water and debris. They curled up, willing it to stop.

And just as quickly it was over.

Dan opened his eyes and immediately looked around for Leah. She turned out to be a few feet from him, lying on her back. A jolt of fear ran through him, and he quickly reached out and touched her shoulder, relief flooding into him when she turned her head towards him.

Tentatively, they both got to their feet, wary of more explosions, and surveyed the scene before them. Parts of the embankment and concrete pathway had been torn up, and the entire path was soaked with water thrown into the air by the blast. But even stranger was right at the edge of the water, where the blasts had originated. From both places, the ripples seemed to have frozen in place, making the surface of the water look simply like an rippled sheet of metal.

And sitting in the centre of each one was a card...

* * *

><p><span>Micro Brawler<span>  
>Warrior-TypeEARTH/Level 3/ATK 1500/DEF 700  
>Once per turn: You can discard 1 Warrior-Type monster; this card loses 1 Level until the End Phase.<p>

D.D.D. – 3D Warrior  
>Warrior-TypeXyz/DARK/Rank 3/ATK 1500/DEF 1500  
>2 Level 3 monsters<br>Once per turn: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; destroy all face-up Level 3 monsters on the field, and if you do, banish them instead of sending them to the Graveyard, then this card gains 1000 ATK for each card destroyed, until the End Phase.

Skyflare of Borealis  
>Spell Card<br>Discard 1 "Borealis" monster, then target 1 card on the field; banish that target, and if that target was a Spirit monster, draw 1 card.

* * *

><p><strong>Fun Fact #5: As it turns out, Leah doesn't like being called 'sweetie'. Don't call her 'sweetie'.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

Dan and Leah stared at the cards sitting on top of the motionless water. Then at each other. Then back at the cards. Both were at a complete loss for words. The shock of what had just happened was so great, it had rendered them both speechless.

These card's simply could not be. The explosions that had torn up the pavement and thrown them both back against the slope could not have left two pieces of cardboard sitting directly in their centre unharmed. But there they were. And the water… it was all too much to take in.

So they both just stared at the cards – which were still sitting there impassively – allowing themselves to calm down and assess the situation.

Leah was the first to recover, and she said the first sane thought that came to her head. "What the hell just happened?"

Her voice seemed to snap Dan out of his daze, and he turned to her and said, "I have no idea. Those cards... it defies... I don't..."

"Maybe the cards caused the explosions." Leah suggested.

He hadn't thought of that – and with good reason – but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to fit somehow. Unable to respond, he looked back at the cards. Leah did the same, and at that moment both of them noticed that both cards were blank. Not just without text, but pure white. Somehow, that made then seem even more eerie.

Leah took a step forwards, and impulsively Dan reached out to stop her. She turned to him. "What's wrong?"

Dan tilted his head sceptically. "You mean besides the fact that we were just caught in an explosion that came out of nowhere and brought two blank cards to us and ripped apart solid concrete and turned the surface of the water into a sheet of metal?"

Neither of them were in any state to find the joke funny. "Well yeah, there's that," Leah said, "but aren't you curious?"

He had to admit it was a little. "Well yes, obviously, but I'm also very scared." Something about that sentence comforted Leah a little – she knew him well, and she knew that he would never admit something like that to anyone else.

They turned and looked at the cards again, which still sat exactly where they were. Then Dan sighed. "I suppose we should go over and check them out then." They both walked forwards very tentatively, both scared out of their wits that more explosions could follow the first lot. Approaching the cards was a very surreal experience for both of them. It was as though the rest of the world had ceased to exist to them. All that was left was each other, the cards, and the few metres of cracked stone separating them all.

Once they reached the bank, they kneeled down, just a few feet from the cards, and tried decide what to do next. Or rather, they knew exactly what to do, but they were too nervous to say it. Dan lifted his arm and slowly reached for one of the cards. Leah mimicked his movement. Their hands were mere centimetres away from the cards. They glanced at each other, then moved their hands that last small distance, and touched the cards – Dan with two fingers, Leah with her whole hand; as though she was going it pick it up.

The exact second they touched the cards, their lives began to change.

Dan felt something constrict around his chest. Looking down, he saw nothing there, but that pressure was still there, constricting tighter and tighter. But it wasn't constricting on the outside. Rather, it was worming its way into his chest, his heart, his soul... a place that no external presence like this had any right to be.

He gasped as the... thing, or whatever it was, forced its way into the core of his being. He clutched and scratched at his chest, trying to do... something, anything, to get this invasive pressure out of himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Leah hug her arms tightly to her body, and knew right then that she was experiencing the exact same thing.

He turned his head to her, and locked eyes with her. Their fear and desperation was mirrored in each other's gaze. And Leah looked at him, and knew that she could do nothing to end his suffering, just as he could do nothing for her…

Then he vanished. The walkway vanished. The cards vanished. Everything collapsed in on itself, and all either of them knew then was darkness and silence.

But not silence. There was another voice... talking... asking...

_"What is it you want?"_

Leah started. Everything and everyone had disappeared, and all that was left was this dark place with this voice talking to her. Dan was the same. They were apart and completely isolated, save for the voices.

_"What is it you want?"_

Now they were able to make out figures, shrouded by darkness, but becoming clearer and better defined as the voiced repeated its question. The voices seemed to be coming from them. With Leah, the figure seemed to resemble a large human, almost twice her size, wearing armour and possessing a set of large, feathery wings. With Dan, the figure was far larger. It seemed to resemble a massive dragon or serpent, with two wings and a tail, but no arms or legs. Both creatures seemed to glisten very slightly, despite the lack of light.

_"What is it you want, hatchling?"_

Dan didn't even consider the question, but immediately retaliated with some of his own. "Who are you? Where is it you've tak-"

_"That is not the answer to the question, hatchling. What is it you want?"_

"What I want is for you to let me out of here!" Dan retorted.

_"No," _replied the creature, growling softly. _"That answer is not a truthful one. What is it you want?"_

Leah, on the other hand, had taken a more direct approach. After ordering the creature to send her back – to which it had refused – she threw herself at the figure, intending to do it as much physical harm as possible until it let her go.

She never got near it. As she started forwards, the figure before her lowered its head slightly, and Leah's head exploded in agony. It was as though her skull was on fire. She screamed and fell to the ground, whereupon the pain promptly ceased, but she still breathed heavily and clutched her head from the shock of the experienced.

And again the accursed figure asked that same question, _"What is it you want?"_

And so it was, in an albeit roundabout way, that both Leah and Dan came to realise that the only way out of this place and away from these creatures was simple – to answer the question.

Leah remained on the floor cross-legged with her eyes closed, while Dan stood gazing at the dragon, and they both pondered the question in great detail. The first thing that popped to their minds was each other, but they quickly ignored that, along with their desire to get out of wherever they were, and moved on to their dreams and ambitions. Their career goals. Their hopes for a good education. And of course, the desire to become strong duelists. These things, however, didn't seem to creatures when Dan and Leah reiterated them, but instead they shook their heads and repeated the question again.

So the two of them continued thinking. Again they thought of each other, and this time they lingered on it, and thought about it in greater detail. _'I trust him/her with my life, but is there anything I really want from that?' _Slowly, bit by bit, a realisation came to them. Yes, they trusted each other implicitly, but they didn't truly know each other. The only person that someone could truly hope to understand is themselves, and that's where these doubts came from. _'I truly consider him/her by best friend in the world, but is that just one-sided on my part? How close of a friend does he/she view me? Is he/she really after a relationship rather than friendship? Does he/she want a relationship with me? If he/she got one with someone else, would we drift apart? Are we close enough that time won't drift us apart regardless?'_ Slowly but surely, these doubts and the desire to know the truth began piling up.

The creatures didn't say anything, but rather emanated… something. It was as though they were radiating suggestions. They were suggestions that the two teenagers had never considered, but suggestions that never exceeded the bounds of reason. The two of them gradually began to take notice of them. _'Did he/she ever really care for you, or is it just neediness? Is he/she simply around you because he/she has nothing and no-one else to turn to? Or perhaps it's simply vindictive reasons, that he/she will betray you at the first opportunity.' _As cruel as these thoughts were, Dan and Leah couldn't simply ignore them, because there was an element of possibility to them. They could not disprove them.

Finally, after they formed the reason in their head, they met the gaze of their respective creatures and said out loud, "I want to know my friend!"

The creatures seemed satisfied with this answer. The dragon lowered its head while the winged-human raised its arm. _"Then accept my symbol, and use me as you will." _Both of them gasped a sharp pain ran across one of their hands - Dan on his right hand, Leah on her left. Looking down, both of them saw a number, etched into the skin on the back of their hand, and glowing different colour. Dan had the number sixty-eight, which was glowing a light blue colour, while Leah saw the number seventeen, glowing forest green. _"Now go, do as you will!" _They both looked up at the creatures in time to see them fade from sight. Then darkness covered their vision, and...

And then they were back.

Leah opened her eyes. She was lying on her side, arms tucked tightly into her body, her muscles cramped from the position she was lying in. She pushed herself into a sitting position. A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she looked to see Dan, also awake, struggling upright. He looked up at her, and their eyes locked. But it was a gaze the likes of which they'd never fixed on each other before. Behind their gazes was fear, apprehension, questioning, and misunderstanding. And it was all being amplified.

Both carried on staring, both reluctant to say anything. Then Dan managed to force out the words, "Did you just…?"

"Yeah," Leah replied. Then, "…you… the same…?"

"Yes…" he replied, still torn between his long-established trust, and his current fear… there wasn't really a way to describe his feelings, nor hers. A full minute went past, where they just stared at each other, battling internally with themselves. Then Dan closed his eyes and got to his feet. Leah, startled out of her thoughts, watched him nervously. He looked at her. Then at the cards, still sitting on the water. Still looking at the cards, he said, "We need to have a duel. Now."

"A duel?" she replied, slightly confused. "What will that do?"

He turned back to her. "Duels can connect people. When we normally duel each other or someone else, we do it for fun and to get better as duelists. But through a duel, where both duelists are pouring their heart and soul into it, people can grow to understand each other. They can learn things about each other that they could never have learnt through a normal conversation, or even a heartfelt one. Just like we did with our first few duels." His eyes grew distant for a second, before he returned his thoughts to the present. "Now, we both have all this uncertainty and apprehension about each other, and a heartfelt duel seems like the only way to get rid of it. Unless you see it differently."

She stared at him for a second, then shook her head. "No... you're right." She got to her feet. "Something's happened to us, and we have to find out what... or at least correct it. Either way, I think a duel is our only option."

Dan nodded, then turned to the water and picked up one of the cards. He glanced at the stats of the card – which had somehow appeared and made it look like any other ordinary card – then slipped it into his pocket and turned back to her. "I still need my duel disk, so I'll head home and get it. Wait for me here, ok?"

"Ok." Leah replied, and they briefly parted ways. She also crouched down to retrieve the remaining card, marvelling at how it had been blank just a few minutes ago. Strangely, the thought didn't cause her any alarm. She put it into her pocket, then sat down and waited, absolutely filled with fear as to what would happen during this duel.

*A FEW MINUTES LATER*

Dan returned with his duel disk a few moments later. They wasted no time. The air between them was still sombre as they prepared their D-Gazers and their duel disks - hers green, his blue - without a word. Their D-Gazers flashed on, and the augmented reality took over the area around them.

_"AR Vision – link established."_

"DUEL!"

* * *

><p><strong>Fun Fact #6: This chapter truly is the hardest thing the two of us have ever had to write. To make it seem as meaningful as possible we had to look critically at our own friendship, and our own doubts and questions about each other. It was not an easy process for those involved, but we managed it, and I'd say we're closer than ever. Enjoy the fruits of our labour, and rest assured that normal dueling activity will be resumed next chapter.<strong>

**Fun Fact #7: Best friends are the best.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Dan LP:** 4000

**Leah LP:** 4000

No words needed to be spoken; they both knew who was going first. "My turn, draw." Dan examined his cards carefully before making his move. "I'll Set one monster, then one other face-down. Your move." His Set cards appeared.

"My turn then, I draw." Leah, likewise, took her time to make her first move. "I Summon **Borealis Tatami**." The monster that appeared was a female Spirit, dressed in a robe that somewhat resembled a toga, and had beautiful rainbow-hued wings. She gave off a strange light, that made it look like she had a rainbow halo emanating from her.

**Borealis Tatami: Fairy-Type/Spirit/WATER/Level 4/ATK 1700****/DEF 1200**

"Now, I use its effect. When its Summoned, I can add any Borealis monster from my Deck to my hand." Her duel disk extracted a single card, which she picked out and revealed. "I select my **Borealis Kita**. Next, I'll banish Izanami from my hand to Special Summon this card. Appear, Izanagi!" The Izanami card faded away even as the new monster appeared on the field. This Spirit was a white-haired old man, which carried a staff and many strings of beads.

Izanagi: Fairy-Type/WIND/Level 6/ATK 2200/DEF 1000

"Tatami, attack the face-down monster!" The angelic Spirit flew upwards, where it spread its arms and let off a piercing rainbow-hued light, which caused Dan's monster, which it turns out was Masked Dragon, to appear and dissipate very quickly.

Masked Dragon: Dragon-Type/FIRE/Level 3/ATK 1400/DEF 1100

"Hold it. I activate the effect of Masked Dragon," he declared. "When it's destroyed in battle, I can Special Summon another Dragon-type monster from by Deck with 1500 or less ATK. So go, Masked Dragon." A second Masked Dragon appeared in place of the first, also in Defence Position.

Masked Dragon: Dragon-Type/FIRE/Level 3/ATK 1400/DEF 1100

Leah grinned. She recognised this strategy; he was attempting to weather all of her attacks. "Fine then. Izanagi, attack the new dragon!" The other Spirit swung its staff at the dragon, destroying it immediately. "Go on then, Summon another dragon!" she shouted confidently.

"With great pleasure." Dan replied. "Appear, **Polaris Dragon Briar**!" The new dragon that rose up and landed on all fours was a green and blue colour, with spikey protrusions all over its body. It was also in Defence Position.

**Polaris Dragon Briar: Dragon-Type/WATER/Level 3/ATK 1200/****DEF 1000**

"So here we go already... the Polaris Dragons." Muttered Leah. _'That one's a real pain too, he would Summon that first, wouldn't he.' _"I Set one card and end my turn. Oh, and because I control Izanagi, then my Spirit monsters don't return to my hand." Sure enough, **Borealis Tatami** remained steadfastly in place.

"Alrighty then. I can live with that." Dan grinned, his old joy at dueling against his closest friend starting to return. "My turn, draw. Now then, I think I'll activate the Spell Card, **Legacy of the Polaris**! So by discarding any Polaris card from my hand, I can distribute three Polaris Counters among face-up monsters." He discarded **Polaris Dragon Islingh**. "Since there are three monsters on the field, I think I'll place one Polaris Counter on each of them." From the Spell Card shot three glowing white spheres, which attached themselves to Leah's two Spirits and Dan's dragon, and condensed into lumps of ice fixed to the monsters' bodies, all glowing softly.

**Polaris Dragon Briar: 0 **→ **1 Polaris Counter  
><strong>

**Borealis Tatami: 0 **→ **1 Polaris Counter  
><strong>

Izanagi: 0 → 1 Polaris Counter

Leah gasped. _'Oh no, he's got Counters on my monsters… this definitely isn't going to end well.'_

Dan, on the other hand, was thinking the exact opposite – this was going to end very well indeed. "I Normal Summon **Polaris Dragon Rhetta**!" A snake-like dragon forced its head out of the ground. This one was blue, made almost entirely out of ice, and had two short and ineffectual arms.

**Polaris Dragon Rhetta: Dragon-Type/Tuner/WATER/Level 1/****ATK 100****/DEF 1600**

"Next, I'll use the effect of **Polaris Dragon Rhetta**. By removing any number of Polaris Counters from the field, I can increase its Level by that amount until the End Phase. So by removing the Counters from Briar and Tatami, I can increase its Level by two!" The two Counters reverted back into orbs of light and flew over to Rhetta, who chomped down on them just as an Xyz Monster would absorb an Overlay Unit.

**Polaris Dragon Briar: 1 **→** 0 **Polaris Counter**s  
><strong>

**Borealis Tatami: 1 **→** 0 **Polaris Counter**s  
><strong>

**Polaris Dragon Rhetta: Level 1 **→** 3**

Dan grinned. "Ready or not, here it comes! I tune the Level three **Polaris Dragon Rhetta** to the Level three **Polaris Dragon Briar**!" Rhetta lit up fully white, before dissipating to reveal three green Synchro rings, which surrounded Briar. Briar gave out a roar and disappeared, leaving behind three shining stars, which centred themselves within the rings. "Synchro Summon!" A beam of light shot down the line of stars, through the centre of the rings, and hit the ground behind Dan. "Awaken! **Polaris Dragon Lord**** Skhulglyss**!" With a beat of its wings, the dragon dispelled the beams of light and landed behind Dan, causing the ground to shake. It was a startling blue-and-white colour, with darker blueish-green scales running down its belly, hind legs, and tail, and a row of icicles hanging from the upper portion of its wings. The dragon rose up to its full height and let off a massive roar, its icy breath rising from its mouth like smoke.

**Polaris Dragon Lord Skhulglyss: Dragon-Type/Synchro/WATER/Level 6/****ATK 2600****/DEF 1200**

From a distance, four figures were watching the duel, their D-Gazers secretly tuned into the duel from afar. The three teenagers were standing behind the only adult, and were looking at each other, confused.

"A Synchro Summon?" Said the girl. "I didn't think anyone used those nowadays."

"Well, people do still use them." One of the other boys said. "But they've generally fallen into disuse with most players."

The man standing in front of them shifted. "It seems that this young man's Deck isn't quite as focussed on Xyz Summoning as most people's Decks. Either that, or he has very few or even no Xyz Monsters to Summon. Either way, he made very good use of the Synchro Summoning mechanic. Now we must continue observing. Be on the watch for the Numbers, you three." The three younger ones nodded, and returned their attention to the duel.

*BACK AT THE DUEL*

Leah stared at Skhulglyss in awe. _'A Synchro Summon… Skhulglyss… looks like Dan's really taking this duel seriously. I don't think he's ever Summoned Skhulglyss so early in a duel before…'_

Dan was also thinking on the importance of the duel. _'Normally I'd never resort to Skhulglyss this quickly, but I can't afford to go easy in this duel. This duel is so much more than a friendly one-on-one, or a duel with a stranger to test out some new cards… this is a really important duel. Something's happened to our friendship, and we have to re-establish our bond.' _He could still feel the doubts, the questions... the desire to know the truth was growing stronger every second.

He shook his head to clear it and resumed the duel. "I activate the effect of **Polaris Dragon Briar** from my Graveyard!" A faint image of Briar's card appeared behind him. "When Briar is sent to the Graveyard, I add one Polaris card from my Deck to my hand, then mill one card. I'll add the Quick-Play Spell **Daybreak of the Polaris** to my hand." His duel disk extracted the card. He pulled it out and placed it in his hand, then moved the top card of his Deck into his Graveyard, which was Blizzard Dragon. "Next up, I'll activate the effect of **Polaris Dragon Lord Skhulglyss**! By paying 600 Life Points, I can distribute Polaris Counters onto the field, up to the number of Polaris monsters in my Graveyard." A whirlwind of snow surrounded Dan as his Life Points decreased.

**Dan LP:** 4000 → 3400

"Since in my Graveyard I have three Polaris monsters – Briar, Rhetta, and Islingh, which I discarded for my **Legacy of the Polaris** Spell Card – I'll place three Counters on Izanagi!" The Synchro Monster opened its mouth wide, and from it, three more orbs of light flew out and affixed themselves to Izanagi.

Izanagi: 1 → 4 Polaris Counters

"Go, Skhulglyss! Attack **Borealis Tatami**! Blizzard force stream!" The dragon opened its mouth once again, and let off a huge blast of icy breath, which shot forwards at a massive speed – glittering all the while – and struck Tatami. The Spirit gave a cry of pain, before dissipating. The blast wave was large, and Leah was knocked backwards by the force of it.

**Leah LP:** 4000 → 3100

The dragon settled back, its frozen breath rising from its nostrils steadily. "Oh, and I think I should also mention; while I control **Polaris Dragon Lord Skhulglyss**, monsters with Polaris Counters on them have their effects negated." He relaxed, satisfied with a good move. "I end my turn."

Leah struggled to her feet, already running through possible ways of taking down the dragon. There were plenty of them, but it would require her to get a better hand first. "My turn then, I draw. All I'll do is Set one monster, then switch Izanagi to defence mode as well. Turn end." Her Set monster appeared, and Izanagi fell to its knees, still carrying the four lumps of ice.

Dan wasted no time. "My move then, I draw. And right now, I activate the effect of Skhulglyss again. At the cost of a further 600 Life Points, this will distribute three more Polaris Counters onto Izanagi." The dragon let off three more Counters, which attached themselves to the Spirit.

**Dan LP:** 3400 → 2800

Izanagi: 4 → 7 Polaris Counters

"Next I Summon Twin-Headed Behemoth." The dragon that took to the field this time had two heads instead of arms, and a large spike instead of a head.

Twin-Headed Behemoth: Dragon-Type/WIND/Level 3/ATK 1500/DEF 1200

"Go for it, **Polaris Dragon Lord Skhulglyss**! Attack the face-down monster! Blizzard force stream!" The dragon reared back its head in preparation for another attack, but never got the chance to launch it.

"I activate the Spell Card, Book of Moon!" Leah's Spell flipped up. "It lets me flip one monster on the field face-down. I target** Polaris Dragon Lord Skhulglyss**!" The dragon, abandoning the attack, let out a loud roar, before separating into shards of light. The shards all shot downwards, and reformed in the shape of a card, in face-down Defence Position.

Dan gritted his teeth. "Well, you shouldn't leave a job unfinished. Twin-Headed Behemoth, attack the face-down monster!" The behemoth put its heads together, and between them formed a coalesced a sphere of wind, which it launched at Leah's monster. The Set monster's card turned over, and the monster appeared. This monster was also a Spirit, and bore several similarities to **Borealis Tatami** in appearance, but was smaller, had much thinner wings, and wore a pure white robe that more closely resembled human clothes. It also possessed the same rainbow-hued glow that the previous Borealis monster had. The ball of air was knocked aside by its wings, having no effect on the monster.

**Borealis Kita: Fairy-Type/Spirit/WATER/Level 3/ATK 300/****DEF 1900**

**Dan LP:** 2800 → 2400

Dan frowned at the double-attack failure, and attempted to continue with his move, but Leah cut in again. "I now activate the Flip Effect of **Borealis Kita**. This lets me add any Spirit monster to my hand. I'll add Asura Priest to my hand."

Dan gritted his teeth – he knew this was not looking good for him at all. "Alright, I end my turn."

Since Izanagi was no longer affected by the effect of Skhulglyss, it could once again apply its effect, which prevented **Borealis Kita** from returning to the hand.

"My turn, draw." Leah considered quickly and acted quickly. "First I'll switch Izanagi to Attack Position. Then I Summon Asura Priest." The white haired Spirit got to its feet again, and the new Spirit appeared by its side.

Asura Priest: Fairy-Type/Spirit/LIGHT/Level 4/ATK 1700/DEF 1200

Leah stopped for a moment, and took a deep breath. The timing and precision of each of their moves was absolutely crucial, and very taxing on both of their minds. It wasn't helping that the emotions she had been feeling since a few minutes ago were continuing to grow, amplifying her desire not just to win this duel, but to find the truth. _'I can't let this duel be a waste,' _she thought. _'My friend is too important to me… but I have to know if he feels the same.'_ She straightened up, then resumed her turn. "Asura Priest, attack the face-down monster!" Asura Priest conjured up several daggers in its hands, and threw the first batch at the Set monster, which they both knew was hiding Skhulglyss. The dragon reappeared, only to be skewered by the knives. With a roar of pain, it exploded in a shower of ice and snow. "Now, since Asura Priest can attack multiple monsters, I'll have it attack your Twin-Headed Behemoth as well!" Just like the first dragon, the Behemoth fell before the onslaught of daggers. This time, a stray blade caught Dan on the shoulder, and he stepped back, grunting in pain.

**Dan LP:** 2400 → 2200

Leah grinned confidently. "This is it, Dan. You only have 2200 Life Points left, and Izanagi has exactly that many attack points." She pointed at Dan. "Here goes everything! Izanagi, attack his Life Points directly!"

* * *

><p>Author-made cards:<p>

Borealis Tatami  
>Fairy-TypeSpirit/WATER/Level 4/ATK 1700/DEF 1100  
>Cannot be Special Summoned. During the End Phase of the turn this card was Normal Summoned or flipped face-up: Return it to the hand. When this card is Normal Summoned: Add 1 "Borealis" monster from your Deck to your hand.<p>

Polaris Dragon Briar  
>Dragon-TypeWATER/Level 3/ATK 1200/DEF 1000  
>You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by removing 3 Polaris Counters from the field. When this card is sent to the Graveyard: Add 1 "Polaris" card (except "Polaris Dragon Briar") from your Deck to your hand, then send the top card of your Deck to the Graveyard. You can only use this effect of "Polaris Dragon Briar" once per turn.<p>

Polaris Dragon Rhetta  
>Dragon-TypeTuner/WATER/Level 1/ATK 100/DEF 1600  
>You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by removing 1 Polaris Counter from the field. Once per turn: You can remove any number of Polaris Counters from the field; for each Polaris Counter removed, this card gains 1 Level until the End Phase.<p>

Borealis Kita  
>Fairy-TypeSpirit/WATER/Level 3/ATK 300/DEF 1900  
>FLIP: Add 1 Spirit monster from your Deck to your hand.<br>Cannot be Special Summoned. During the End Phase of the turn this card was Normal Summoned or flipped face-up: Return it to the hand.

Polaris Dragon Lord Skhulglyss  
>Dragon-TypeSynchro/WATER/Level 6/ATK 2600/DEF 1200  
>1 WATER Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Dragon-Type monsters<br>You can Special Summon this card (from your Graveyard) by removing 6 Polaris Counters from the field. Once per turn: You can pay 600 Life Points; distribute Polaris Counters among face-up monsters, equal to the number of "Polaris" monsters in your Graveyard. Negate the effects of all face-up monsters your opponent controls with Polaris Counters on them.

Legacy of the Polaris  
>Quick-Play Spell Card<br>Activate 1 of these effects. ●Remove any number of Polaris Counters from the field; add 1 "Polaris" card from your Deck to your hand for every 3 Polaris Counters removed. ●Discard any number of "Polaris" cards; distribute 3 times that amount of Polaris Counters among face-up monsters.

* * *

><p><strong>Fun Fact #8: During this chapter we attempted to incorperate a feature where we underline certain stats of a monster to show its Battle Position. It was only then we discovered that this website's document editor won't allow us to underline anything that's also in bold, which we use for all author-made cards. Seriously... we cannot be the only ones with all these underlining problems. UPDATE FROM THE FUTURE: We've finally managed to implement the underlining thing. Depending on their Battle Positions, all monsters will have their relevant stats underlined now.<br>**

**Fun Fact #9: The names for the Borealis monsters is an idea I stole from Matt's story - that is, translating certain words into another language and using that. For instance, Kita means north.**

**Fun Fact #10: I didn't really create the Polaris monsters with any particular naming themes in mind. Mostly I try to pick names that I think fit, and that I personally like, though they don't tend to make a great deal of sense. For instance, a Briar is a thorny plant(s), Rhetta is the nickname of my Rhyperior in Pokemon Brown, and Skhulglyss is a random collection of letters that look and sound cool (for the record, its pronounced Skull-gliss).  
><strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Dan LP:** 2200

Spell & Trap Card Zone: 1 set card

**Leah LP:** 3100

**Borealis Kita: Fairy-Type/Spirit/WATER/Level 3/ATK 300/****DEF 1900**

Izanagi: Fairy-Type/WIND/Level 6/ATK 2200/DEF 1000 - 7 Polaris Counters

Asura Priest: Fairy-Type/Spirit/LIGHT/Level 4/ATK 1700/DEF 1200

"Izanagi, attack his Life Points directly!" The white-haired Spirit gave a battle cry and leapt forwards, raising its staff to attack.

Dan forced himself to remain calm, and counter the attack. "I activate the Trap Card, Defence Draw!" The Trap Card flipped up. "It negates one instance of Battle Damage and lets me draw a card." The Trap Card blocked the attack, forcing Izanagi to retreat.

Leah smiled as Dan drew his card. _'He timed that perfectly. Now he's in a really good position to make a comeback. Ok, focus. His field is empty, while I control Borealis Kita, Asura Priest, and Izanagi. So how do I put myself in a good position for next turn?' _"I'll Set one card and end my turn. And Asura Priest remains in play due to Izanagi's effect."

"I remember." Dan replied. "I activate the effect of Twin-Headed Behemoth. Once per duel, if it's destroyed, I can Special Summon it during the End Phase with 1000 ATK and DEF. Revive, Twin-Headed Behemoth!" The two-headed dragon thing reappeared in Defence Position.

Twin-Headed Behemoth: Dragon-Type/WIND/Level 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1000

"It's my turn, I draw. And from my Graveyard, I activate the effect of **Polaris Dragon Lord Skhulglyss**." A faint image of Skhulglyss' card appeared behind him. "At any time during my Main Phase, it can be Special Summoned from the Graveyard by removing Polaris Counters from the field equal to its Level."

Leah gasped. "Oh no. And you've placed a total of seven Counters on Izanagi..."

Dan grinned. "Yep, Izanagi's been acting as a nice store of Counters since the duel began. So I think I'll take away six of his Counters to revive Skhulglyss." Dan extracted a card from his Graveyard and held it up. Six of the seven lumps of ice attached to Izanagi lit up pure white, flew off of it and spiralled straight into the card, which began to glow a piercing white. "Be revived! Polaris Dragon Lord Skhulglyss!" In a brilliant flash of light, the dragon reappeared, landing once again behind Dan with a thud. It shook its head, then stretched its wings right out and let out a roar of triumph.

Izanagi: 7 → 1 Polaris Counter

**Polaris Dragon Lord Skhulglyss: Dragon-Type/Synchro/WATER/Level 6/ATK 2600/DEF 1200**

Leah groaned. "So I have to deal with that thing all over again?" She said in exasperation.

"You know it." Dan replied. "Now, since I still have a few Life Points, I guess I'll use the effect of Skhulglyss, to restock Izanagi with Polaris Counters." The dragon shot three more icy spheres at Izanagi, which froze to its body once again.

**Dan LP: **2200 → 1600

Izanagi: 1 → 4 Polaris Counters

"Now go, Skhulglyss! Attack Asura Priest! Blizzard force stream!" The dragon reared back, then launched a blizzard of icy breath at the Spirit, which flailed about uselessly before exploding. Leah covered her face from the force of the attack.

**Leah LP: **3100 → 2200

"Finally, I'll Set one monster plus one Spell or Trap Card and end my turn." Dan said, placing the cards on his duel disk.

Leah shook her head and prepared to counterattack. "My turn, draw." She looked at her drawn card, and resisted the urge to grin. _'Took this thing long enough to show up. Looks like things are starting to go my way.' _"From my hand, I activate the Spell Card, **Dance of the Northern Lights**!" Dan gasped. "With this card, by returning a WATER Spirit monster I control to the hand, I can banish two cards my opponent controls." **Borealis Kita** faded away into mist. "I target **Polaris Dragon Lord Skhulglyss**, and your face-down Spell or Trap Card!"

A haze of flashing spectral lights surrounded Dan's field. Skhulglyss thrashed about, roaring, beating its wings, trying to get rid of the lights. Then, with a flash, the dragon disappeared, as did Dan's only face-down Spell/Trap, which turned out to be the Spell Card, Imperial Wrath's Miracle. Dan was aghast. "Uh oh... since Skhulglyss is banished, it doesn't matter now may Polaris Counters are on Izanagi. If it's not in the Graveyard, I can't revive it."

"Damn straight," Leah laughed. "Now, for my next trick, I Summon Susa Soldier!" The electrified Spirit appeared.

Susa Soldier: Thunder-Type/Spirit/EARTH/Level 4/ATK 2000/DEF 1600

"Battle! Susa Soldier will attack Twin-Headed Behemoth, and Izanagi will go after your face-down!" Both monsters leapt forwards, swinging their respective weapons. Neither of Dan's monsters stood a chance, but his Set monster was flipped up during the attack, so Leah got a brief look at it before it exploded. It was another **Polaris Dragon Briar**.

**Polaris Dragon Briar: Dragon-Type/WATER/Level 3/ATK 1200/****DEF 1000**

Recovering from the attacks, Dan went straight back into action. "I activate the effect of **Polaris Dragon Briar** and **Polaris Dragon Islingh** from my Graveyard. Briar lets by add a Polaris card from my Deck to my hand when he goes to the Graveyard, and Islingh revives itself when a WATER Dragon-Type monster I control is destroyed." His duel disk spat out the card **Polaris Dragon Sapphia**, which he caught. "Revive! **Polaris Dragon Islingh**!" The dragon that appeared was slightly different to the others. It was pure white, very thin and spindly, and had horns on its head similar to those of a mountain goat.

**Polaris Dragon Islingh: Dragon-Type/WATER/Level 3/ATK 1000/DEF 300**

Leah grinned. "I was waiting for that thing to appear. I can't do much about it while it's in the Graveyard, but now it's on the field, I can get it right out of the way."

"You don't mean...?" Dan said nervously.

"I might," Leah replied cheerfully, before activating another card from her hand. "I activate the Spell Card, **Skyflare of Borealis**!"

"No!" Dan panicked.

"By discarding 1 Borealis monster, I can banish one card on the field. So I'll discard **Borealis Kita** to banish **Polaris Dragon Islingh**!" As she placed Kita in her Graveyard, the sky above them lit up with the northern lights. Then they flashed a brilliant light, and launched down a beam of pure energy, which obliterated Islingh on the spot.

Dan was shocked. In the space of a turn, Leah had succeeded in wiping his field clean. He gritted his teeth, willing there to be a way for him to make a comeback. "My turn, draw! I Summon-"

He gasped and doubled over, clutching his right hand. Staring at it, he saw a glowing blue sixty-eight etch itself onto the back of his hand. With that, he felt his mind being assailed by a vicious and impatient presence. _"Enough of this!" _it roared, causing Dan to clutch his head in pain. He was vaguely aware of Leah shouting at him, but he couldn't make out the words over the mental shout of this... thing. _"You wanted answers, and now you waste our time messing around? Enough, hatchling! Attend to the problem at hand. Remember why you're dueling." _With that, the voice receded, leaving Dan panting.

"Hey, Dan! Dan!" Leah was shouting. "Are you ok? Talk to me!"

The number was still etched onto the back of his skin. Slowly, he looked up from it at the brown-haired girl, and grimaced. "It's ok, I'm fine. Just got a bit distracted."

She didn't believe that for a second, but didn't want to press the matter. "Ok, we should continue then." She replied.

"I agree." He took a deep breath, then resumed his move, now certain of his path. "I Normal Summon **Polaris Dragon Sapphia**!" This dragon had a basic dragonic appearance, with four legs, two wings and a tail, and was a soft blueish-white colour.

**Polaris Dragon Sapphia: Dragon-Type/WATER/Level 3/ATK 1700/DEF 1500**

"Next, by removing three Polaris Counters from Izanagi, I can Special Summon this card as well." Just like the re-Summoning of Skhulglyss, three of Izanagi's Counters turned back into orbs of light and shot into the card being held aloft by Dan. "Appear, **Polaris Dragon Yve**!" This dragon more closely resembled a wyvern, with only two wings and a sharp nose. It was blue with black outlines.

Izanagi: 4 → 1 Polaris Counter

**Polaris Dragon Yve: Dragon-Type/WATER/Level 3/ATK 1500/DEF 300**

"Here we go." He shouted. He didn't really know what he was doing at this point, only that he had to do it. "Level three **Polaris Dragon Yve** and **Polaris Dragon Sapphia**, Overlay!" The two dragons morphed into fully blue masses of energy, and shot upwards, clearing the way for a galaxy-style portal. "I use these two monsters to construct the Overlay Network. Xyz Summon!" As the two dragons flew in, the portal exploded outwards. "Appear! **Number 68: Glacial Dragon**!"

A blue sixty-eight flashed over the field and out of the residue of the portal rose a massive dragon egg. It was black, white, and light-blue, and its texture was far from smooth, with a bumpy surface and regular gaps where a scaly skin was visible. With a crack, the egg split down the middle and began to divide, showering the field with lumps of ice. More ice shattered as the creature inside uncurled itself from the egg, and split the egg further by spreading its wings. With a final effort, the dragon finally uncurled itself completely – revealing that the egg had really been its curled-up body covered in ice – and flapped its wings once, brushing both duelists with an icy wing. The dragon had a black and white snake-like body with light blue highlights, a tail with a membrane on the end much like a fish, two long whiskers curling away from its nose (both drifting about in the breeze), and piercing teal eyes. The blue number 68 was visible on its forehead, and it was orbited by two dark blue Overlay Units.

**Number 68: Glacial Dragon: Dragon-Type/Xyz/WATER/Rank 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1000 – 2 OLU**

"Dan…?" Leah said slowly, suddenly afraid. "What... what is that thing?"

He didn't respond, but instead dove straight back into his move. "I activate the effect of Glacial Dragon. Once per turn, I can detach one of its Overlay Units to increase its ATK by the ATK the detached monster had. So... I detach the **Polaris Dragon Yve** Overlay Unit." One of the blue orbs of light left its orbit and spiralled into the dragon's forehead, which emitted a piercing sky-blue light. "Yve had 1500 ATK, so those attack points are all transferred to Glacial Dragon for this turn."

**Number 68: Glacial Dragon: 2 **→** 1 OLU**

**Number 68: Glacial Dragon: ATK 1000 **→** 2500**

"You've done enough in this duel, Izanagi. Now disappear! Glacial Dragon, attack Izanagi!" The dragon pulled its head back, and began charging the attack in its mouth. "Ice nova!" The dragon fired a pure white beam, which glistened as frost flew from it, and instantaneously hit Izanagi, who cried out and exploded. Leah was thrown back by the attack.

**Leah LP:** 2200 → 1900

"I Set two cards and end my turn. So bring it."

**Number 68: Glacial Dragon: ATK 2500 **→** 1000**

She got to her feet shakily, still worried by the appearance of this... Number. She didn't quite know what to make of it. Dan had never played a card like this before, yet now he and the dragon looked perfectly in tune, standing there. Still concerned, she went to draw, and froze as a bolt of lightning shot through her mind. She cried out and staggered forwards, a green light appearing on the back of her left hand, shaping out the number 17.

And then that voice was back again. _"Come now, young one. You must remember why we are dueling. We are dueling to get answers to the questions you've been asking as of late. Do you have any answers yet?" _Leah had to admit she hadn't. _"Then you must stop dueling so casually. Start dueling more seriously. Or Summon me, and I will act as your weapon and get your answers for you!" _The voice then faded away, leaving her feeling shaken, but otherwise unhurt.

It was only then that she became aware of Dan calling to her, just as she had called to him. She straightened up and smiled at him in an attempt to ease his mind. Neither of them bought it.

"My turn, I draw." She saw her next move laid out before her like an open book. "I Tribute Susa Soldier to Summon **Borealis Nanbu**." The higher-Leveled Spirit appeared. This one was dressed in a simple white dress, and appeared to only have one wing... until her hair became visible. Somehow, the Spirit's very long turned into feathers towards the tips, ending in the likeness of a second wing.

**Borealis Nanbu: Fairy-Type/Spirit/WATER/Level 5/ATK 1900/DEF 2100**

"Now I'll use Nanbu's effect. During the turn its Normal Summoned, I can Normal Summon an extra Spirit monster. So come on out, **Borealis Leger**." This angel was similar in appearance to Kita and Tatami, but it carried a bow and arrow, and its robe was more stylised for combat.

**Borealis Leger: Fairy-Type/Spirit/WATER/Level 4/ATK 1400/DEF 600**

"Next, I'll use Leger's effect. When it's Normal Summoned, it can increase the Level of a Spirit monster on the field by one. I'll have it increase itself."

**Borealis Leger: Level 4 **→** 5**

"And now... Level five **Borealis Leger** and **Borealis Nanbu**, Overlay!" Like Dan's monsters, both Spirits turned fully blue and shot upwards and away from the galaxy-style portal that opened, before spiralling back down into it. "I use these two monsters to construct the Overlay Network. Xyz Summon!" The portal exploded. "Be born! **Number 17: Passion Aurora**!"

The green number 17 flashed above the field, and a spinning object rose out of the portal. It resembled... nothing in particular, but looked like a massive sideways oval crest, with three sharp protrusions coming from it; two from the side and one from underneath. Protruding from the side of each 'spike' were two downy wings. Lines of light traced across the surface of the crest as it started to unfold. All six wings stretched out. A pitch-black humanoid figure, covered in shining gold armour, began to take form. Two scarf-like strips of fabric, one grey and one purple, hung from its waste. It had spikes on its kneecaps, and pointed feet. Everything about it besides its wings looked synthetic. With one final battle-cry, it stretched out its arms and wings, then took its position ready for battle.

**Number 17: Passion Aurora: Fairy-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK 2500/DEF 1800 – 2 OLU**

* * *

><p>Author-made cards:<p>

Borealis Kita  
>Fairy-TypeSpirit/WATER/Level 3/ATK 300/DEF 1900  
>FLIP: Add 1 Spirit monster from your Deck to your hand.<br>Cannot be Special Summoned. During the End Phase of the turn this card was Normal Summoned or flipped face-up: Return it to the hand.

Polaris Dragon Briar  
>Dragon-TypeWATER/Level 3/ATK 1200/DEF 1000  
>You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by removing 3 Polaris Counters from the field. When this card is sent to the Graveyard: Add 1 "Polaris" card (except "Polaris Dragon Briar") from your Deck to your hand, then send the top card of your Deck to the Graveyard. You can only use this effect of "Polaris Dragon Briar" once per turn.<p>

Polaris Dragon Islingh  
>Dragon-TypeWATER/Level 3/ATK 1000/DEF 300  
>You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by removing 3 Polaris Counters from the field. When a face-up WATER Dragon-Type monster (except "Polaris Dragon Islingh") you control is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard while this card is in your Graveyard: You can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard.<p>

Polaris Dragon Sapphia  
>Dragon-TypeWATER/Level 3/ATK 1700/DEF 1500  
>You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by removing 3 Polaris Counters from the field. When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 Level 3 or lower "Polaris" monster from your Deck.<p>

Polaris Dragon Yve  
>Dragon-TypeWATER/Level 3/ATK 1500/DEF 300  
>You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by removing 3 Polaris Counters from the field. If this card is in your Graveyard: You can target 1 other Dragon-Type monster in your Graveyard; shuffle that target into the Deck, then return this card from the Graveyard to the hand. You can only use this effect of "Polaris Dragon Yve" once per turn.<p>

Borealis Nanbu  
>Fairy-TypeSpirit/WATER/Level 5/ATK 1900/DEF 2100  
>Cannot be Special Summoned. During the End Phase of the turn this card was Normal Summoned or flipped face-up: Return it to the hand. During the turn this card is Normal Summoned or flipped face-up, you can Normal Summon 1 additional Spirit monster (you can only gain this effect once per turn).<p>

Borealis Leger  
>Fairy-TypeSpirit/WATER/Level 4/ATK 1400/DEF 600  
>Cannot be Special Summoned. During the End Phase of the turn this card was Normal Summoned or flipped face-up: Return it to the hand. When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 face-up Spirit monster you control; that target gains 1 Level.<p>

Polaris Dragon Lord Skhulglyss  
>Dragon-TypeSynchro/WATER/Level 6/ATK 2600/DEF 1200  
>1 WATER Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Dragon-Type monsters<br>You can Special Summon this card (from your Graveyard) by removing 6 Polaris Counters from the field. Once per turn: You can pay 600 Life Points; distribute Polaris Counters among face-up monsters, equal to the number of "Polaris" monsters in your Graveyard. Negate the effects of all face-up monsters your opponent controls with Polaris Counters on them.

Number 68: Glacial Dragon  
>Dragon-TypeXyz/WATER/Rank 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1000  
>2 Level 3 monsters<br>This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. Once per turn: You can target 1 face-up card on the field; negate its effects until the End Phase. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; this card gains ATK equal to the ATK of the detached monster in the Graveyard, until the End Phase.

Number 17: Passion Aurora  
>Fairy-TypeXyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK 2500/DEF 1800  
>2 Level 5 monsters<br>This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. Neither player can Special Summon monsters. During either player's turn: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; negate this card's effects until the End Phase.

Dance of the Northern Lights  
>Quick-Play Spell Card<br>Return 1 WATER Spirit monster you control to the hand, then target 2 cards your opponent controls; banish those targets.

Skyflare of Borealis  
>Spell Card<br>Discard 1 "Borealis" monster, then target 1 card on the field; banish that target, and if that target was a Spirit monster, draw 1 card.

* * *

><p><strong>Fun Fact #11: Continuing with the Polaris' naming themes, Yve is a shortened version of Wyvern, Sapphia is a modification of the word Sapphire, and Islingh is a modification of a word taken from the Eragon series - Islingr, meaning 'light-bringer'.<strong>

**Fun Fact #12: As for the Borealis, Nanbu is the Japanese for south, and Leger means archer, but I can't remember which language it was (oops).  
><strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Dan LP:** 1600

**Number 68: Glacial Dragon: Dragon-Type/Xyz/WATER/Rank 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1000 - 1 OLU**

Spell & Trap Card Zone: 1 set card**  
><strong>

**Leah LP:** 1900

**Number 17: Passion Aurora: Fairy-Type/Xyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK 2500/DEF 1800 – 2 OLU**

"No way..." Dan breathed, staring at the figure standing on the opposite field. "So these things... they're both Numbers?"

Leah glanced up at her new monster, then back at Dan. "It does look like it doesn't it... I don't know... something's not right here."

"One way or another, we have to finish this duel." He replied quickly. "We can worry about these cards later."

She nodded. "Alright then!"

Off to the side, the watchers were having similar reactions. The three teens were staring at the two monsters in confusion.

"Hang on, they both have Numbers?" said the red-headed girl in confusion, before rounding on the man. "Why didn't you tell us that?"

"Several reasons," replied the man, still fixated on the duel. "Chief among which is that I myself was not sure until just now." He smiled. "It's not a major problem; it just means we'll have to get a bit more... creative..."

*BACK AT THE DUEL*

Leah was about to declare an attack, but then she stopped, and forced herself to think. _'I can't just run straight at Glacial Dragon. At the moment it has only 1000 ATK, but it still has an Overlay Unit left, and detaching that Unit will take its ATK to 2700. Think. Don't just rush in.' _Instead of attacking, she took a card from her hand to play. "I activate the Field Spell Card, **Spiritual Haven of the Borealis**!"

From her duel disk blazed a piercing light. Dan covered his eyes. When he opened them, he found them both standing on apparently nothing, within the aurora! The otherworldly lights – predominantly green – pulsated and flapped around them like giant celestial curtains. Every now and then, what appeared to be a small, glowing puff of smoke with facial features – Spirits – flew past their line of vision and disappeared into the aurora. Dan was awed by the sight.

"As long as this Field Spell is in play, all Spirit monsters gain 100 ATK and DEF for each Spirit I control." Leah explained. "In addition, I gain an extra Normal Summon each turn. Unfortunately, while I control this card, I can't Normal Summon any monster that isn't a Spirit." She grinned. "Still, I'm ok with that. I Normal Summon Otohime!" The red-haired Spirit appeared.

Otohime: Spellcaster-Type/Spirit/LIGHT/Level 3/ATK 0/DEF 100

Otohime: ATK 0 → 100/DEF 100 → 200

"Now I'll use Otohime's effect. When it's Normal Summoned, I can change the Battle Position of one of your monsters. So I'll put your dragon in Defence Mode!" The Spirit sent a stream of magic ropes at the dragon, which entangled it and forced it down into defence. "And since it's in Defence Position, increasing its ATK won't do you any good. Go, Passion Aurora! Attack Glacial Dragon!" The Number leapt into the air and began to gather a ball of golden energy in its left hand. "Ionized blast!" A beam of crackling yellow light shot from Number 17's palm and struck Number 68 straight in the chest.

The dragon roared with pain, but did not disappear. As the blast of energy from 17's attack abated, Number 68 was seen to be covered in a shining silver and bronze armour that was patterned like a dragon's scales. The armour bore no mark from the attack

Dan grinned. "I activated the Trap Card, Scale Mail. After activation, it equips itself to a Dragon-Type monster I control. While it's equipped, the equipped monster loses 1000 ATK, but can't be destroyed by battle."

**Number 68: Glacial Dragon: ATK 1000 **→** 0**

Leah gritted her teeth. _'Damnit. Not only did the dragon survive the attack, but it retained its Overlay Unit as well. That means I need to set up some defence for next turn.' _"I Set one card and end my turn. And with Izanagi finally gone, my Spirits will resume returning to my hand when the turn is through." Otohime faded into mist.

"My turn then, I draw. I'll switch Glacial Dragon to Attack Position." The dragon rose up to its full height, spread its wings, and let out a roar. "Then, I'll activate Glacial Dragon's second effect. Once per turn, I can cancel the effects of any one card on the field until the End Phase. So I'll block out the effects of Scale Mail for this turn!" The dragon turned its head towards the Trap Card. "Flash freeze!" Number 68 shot a glowing sphere of ice at the card, which flared white light as it hit. When the light dissipated, the Trap Card was covered in ice, and Glacial Dragon's armour was gone.

**Number 68: Glacial Dragon: ATK 0 **→** 1000**

"Then I'll use its other effect, detaching its last Overlay Unit to increase its ATK by 1700!" Like the previous one, the Unit broke orbit and spiralled into the dragon's forehead, enveloping it with a pale blue light.

**Number 68: Glacial Dragon: 1 **→** 0 OLU**

**Number 68: Glacial Dragon: ATK 1000 **→** 2700**

"Next, I'll use the Spell Card Monster Reborn, to-"

"Oh no you don't!" Leah interrupted. "I should probably mention that Number 17 has an effect too. As long as it's in play, neither player can perform a Special Summon."

"What?" Dan gasped.

"Yep," she grinned. "So no Monster Reborn-ing for you."

Dan gritted his teeth as he took the card back. This was certainly no easy duel. "Fine, then I'll clear it off the field first! Glacial Dragon, attack Passion Aurora! Ice nova!" The dragon once again launched a blue ray of icy energy at Number 17.

"I activate the Trap Card, Bye Bye Damage!" Leah shouted as the Trap Card flipped up. "It prevents my monster from being destroyed by battle." Number 17 was struck by the icy beam, but held strong. The shockwaves pushed Leah backwards, and she covered her face. "As well as that, any Battle Damage inflicted to me is also inflicted to you at twice the force!"

"Oh boy..."

The Trap Card shone with light, then shockwaves similar to the attack shot out and struck Dan, throwing him back too as well. They hit the ground at the same moment.

**Leah LP:** 1900 → 1700

**Dan LP:** 1600 → 1200

The two of them immediately made to get back on their feet, but were suddenly paralysed by the presence still invading their conscience. But there was more to them than impatience this time. They were angry! They were bloodthirsty! Both of these presences were infuriated by the opposing Number. And that hatred was seeping through into the minds of the two teens. It was a new desire: they wanted to see the opposing Number wiped out, as well as getting the answers they'd been craving since the start of the duel.

But... that wasn't quite the case anymore. The two kids had started to have other thoughts, completely independent of the Numbers' thoughts. During the duel, they had both begun to remember something that they had never forgotten. To see something that had always been there. Their immeasurable trust for each other.

And now things were changing. They were starting to see that these doubts, these questions, weren't all theirs. A large portion of the thoughts had been placed in their minds by something else, and had never even occurred to them for one simple reason: they already knew the answers. They may not have been able to truly know each other, but they knew each other well enough to know for a fact that their friendship was very real, that their lives were linked in a way that few people's were, and that they trusted each other uncritically and without reserve. And as long as they lived, neither of them had any intention of betraying a trust like that. It was too important to them both.

This realisation only made the Numbers more furious. The kids were starting to reject their control, and were starting to see the deceptions, the twists in logic, that the Numbers had used to create these doubts. They had failed. And now each pair - human and Number - had to fight each other for mental dominance.

In one swift movement, they both got to their feet. The Numbers, realising their intentions, viciously assailed their minds with waves of pain, anger, fear... every negative emotion they could muster, all overshone by that one emotion that had been there since the start: doubt.

Slowly, battling with every fibre of their being to hang on to the trust and not allow the doubt to destroy their minds, they took a step forwards, then another. In the distance, the four watching figures started running towards the duel. Above them, the Numbers thrashed about, still embroiled in the mental struggle. The number 68 and 17 on the teens' hands were blazing with light so brightly, it was painful to look at. But the two of them weren't looking at them. They had their eyes fixed on each other, trying to give each other strength, and find strength of their own, just from eye contact.

Above them, the Numbers turned their attention on each other, and began charging attacks: Glacial Dragon's pale blue, Passion Aurora's bright gold.

The two kids reached each other.

The Numbers reared back to launch their attacks.

Both kids held up their duel disks...

They linked their free arms...

And placed their free hand on top of their own Deck.

**Leah LP:** 1700 [DRAW]

**Dan LP:** 1200 [DRAW]

The claxon sounded. The Numbers on the backs of their hands dimmed as the two of them, together again, began to really fight off the consciences. The attacks dissipated before they were fired. The Numbers thrashed about more violently than ever. All the other holograms flickered and froze as the Numbers refused to disappear. Their invasive presences began to assail their minds even harder.

Neither side could gain any headway. It was slightly different from before, as the skin contact seemed to be changing things. Each time Leah fought her Number back a little, the contact seemed to help Dan fight his off a little more, if ever so slightly, and vice versa. But it was slow. It was painfully slow. It could take forever...

Then both teens were tackled by another boy and girl, and all four landed on the ground, Leah and Dan separated from each other.

Leah cried out in pain and Dan shouted out "No!" and then the Numbers used the distraction to fully integrate themselves. Both kids' eyes widened in shock as all of the negative emotions hit them like a tsunami. On the battlefield, the monsters seemed to relax smugly, before turning to each other and began to charge their attacks again. Watching them, feeling the fight drain out of her in an instant, Leah felt a tear of helplessness prick her eyelids, and she fell limp against the girl still pinning her down. Vaguely, she registered the girl take hold of her left wrist, and felt something cold touch it.

Then it was gone.

The invasive presence was gone in an instant, brushed aside like a fly. The glowing number seventeen on her hand went out like a light. The monsters dissipated before they had a chance to let out another sound. The shock to her system was so great that she just laid there, stunned, as the girl pinning her down stood up and stepped back. The augmented reality faded away.

Eventually regaining control of senses, she let her head tilt to the left, to see Dan lying a metre away, eyes wide open in shock, apparently having received the same treatment. On his right wrist was a strip of metal.

Leah looked down at her own left wrist. There was an identical strip of metal on hers, cold against her skin.

Then she looked up at the people around her. There were four of them: two boys, one girl, and one man in a white coat, all watching her and Dan very carefully. She noticed that the three teenagers – who didn't look much older than herself – all had the same metal band around their wrist.

Slowly, she pushed herself upright, and the four figures watching her shifted uneasily. Vaguely, she saw Dan doing the same thing. They both got to their feet, watching the four newcomers wearily.

None of the six people said a word.

* * *

><p>Author-made cards:<p>

Number 68: Glacial Dragon  
>Dragon-TypeXyz/WATER/Rank 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1000  
>2 Level 3 monsters<br>This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. Once per turn: You can target 1 face-up card on the field; negate its effects until the End Phase. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; this card gains ATK equal to the ATK of the detached monster in the Graveyard, until the End Phase.

Number 17: Passion Aurora  
>Fairy-TypeXyz/LIGHT/Rank 5/ATK 2500/DEF 1800  
>2 Level 5 monsters<br>This card cannot be destroyed by battle, except by a "Number" monster. Neither player can Special Summon monsters. During either player's turn: You can detach 1 Overlay Unit from this card; negate this card's effects until the End Phase.

Spiritual Haven of the Borealis  
>Field Spell Card<br>Face-up Spirit monsters gain 100 ATK and DEF for each Spirit monster their controller controls. You cannot Normal Summon non-Spirit monsters. Once per turn: You can Normal Summon 1 monster from your hand as an additional Normal Summon.

* * *

><p><strong>Fun Fact #13: Basically, the reason this chapter wasn't finished faster was that we were procrastinating. Which is odd, because we generally use this as a way of winding down after a long day. Procrastinating on our procrastination... that's embarrassing. Sorry about that everyone, we'll be faster next time.<strong>

**Fun Fact #14: Yes, Scale Mail is unbolded. No, that isn't a mistake. Yes, it does already exist. Look it up.**

**Fun Fact #15: One of the lines we used, "uncritically and without restraint," is a quote from Alan Beck and Aaron Katcher's book, 'Between Pets and People: The Importance of Animal Companionship', in which they talk about pets. The full quote was: "No person is too old or ugly or poor or disabled to win the love of a pet - they love us uncritically and without reserve." Personally, I love that quote, and everything it stands for.  
><strong>

**Fun Fact #16: Passion Aurora has the same Number as Leviathan Dragon, you say? I say, who's Leviathan Dragon? *Wink***

**Fun Fact #17: Really, really sorry about the rather lackluster conclusion to the mental struggle of our characters. It was a lot harder than we thought, and it really was the best we could do. Sorry again. We'll try extra hard to characterize them and develop their bond better in future chapters. Still, its early days. We have plenty of time.**


	8. Chapter 8

Finally, Leah found her tongue.

"Um... hello..."

Those words seemed to ease the tension. The man in the white lab coat stepped forwards.

"Greetings, young ones," he said in an oddly calm voice. "My name is Professor Usur, and I've been greatly looking forward to meeting with you both."

Leah and Dan exchanged glances. Dan stepped forwards. "We're pleased to meet you too, um... Professor, but could you please explain to us what just happened? What were those things attacking us? And these cards... and these bands-"

"Patience, young one," said the Professor, "I will explain everything. You see, the cards you have come to possess are part of a large collection of cards known as the Numbers."

"Numbers..." they both breathed.

Professor Usur went on, "Yes. There are approximately 100 of these cards, and they all came to this world from a different dimension which, I assume, is how you came across them." Both kids recalled the explosions that had nearly killed them, had brought the cards, and had done strange things to the water. Both of them glanced back at the river, which had returned to normal. "Once here, they locate a human to act as a vessel, and integrate themselves within the host's mind. Once inside, they cause a few changes. Firstly, they amplify the host's desires and emotions: if they cannot find sufficient desires already present, then they attempt to increase and manipulate existing ones, swelling them up to make them seem bigger than they really are."

Dan and Leah exchanged glances. Leah said, "That sounds like exactly what happened to us."

The Professor nodded the affirmative. "However, this secondary type is not an ideal possession for the Numbers, as it can become possible for the host to see through it, and thus fight off the Number, which you two were attempting. In my humble opinion, however, I don't believe you would've stood a chance of fighting them off."

Dan, remembering the intense rage of the Numbers, and how they had fought back so hard, said, "I have to agree with you on that one." Leah nodded.

The Professor continued: "The Numbers also manifest themselves as real monsters during duels, and thus can inflict real damage." Behind him, one of the boys turned his head away, and the girl bowed her head in shame. Dan glanced at the brown-haired boy with a questioning look.

"I'll tell you later," the boy replied.

"Anyway," said the Professor, "with regards to the things on your wrists, those are bands that block out the influence of the Numbers. You are completely safe from their powers while you wear them." Both kids looked down at the bands in awe. "They also have the ability to pull any Numbers out of a defeated opponent."

Leah gasped. Addressing the three teens standing behind Professor Usur, she said, "You all have those bands too. So does that mean... you all have Numbers as well?" All three nodded.

Dan, however, looked more suspicious. "And why are you telling us this? Do you expect us to use this feature? More to the point, why didn't you just use this thing to pull the Numbers out of us? Surely that would've been safer for us and for you."

The Professor smiled at him. "I will answer each of those questions with the same sentence: because I need you both, along with your Numbers. You look confused... I'll explain. But first, I want the five of you to each introduce yourself." The three teens behind the Professor stepped forwards.

The brown-haired boy spoke first. "It's nice to meet you all. My name is James, and I'm the holder of Number 73." As he spoke, he pulled a card from his pocket and showed it to everyone – **Number 73: Matrix Gardna**.

The red-headed girl spoke up next. "Hello, I'm Katie, and I'm the holder of Number 91." She too held up her card – **Number 91: Flarestormer**.

The black-haired boy stepped forwards reluctantly. "I'm Matt, and I hold Number 51." He showed them his Number, no more than a quick reveal before putting it away again – **Number 51: Dark Excalibur**.

Dan and Leah exchanged glances again. Dan shrugged. "Hi all, my name is Dan, and I guess I'm the holder of Number 68." Rather than holding up the card, he simply held up his duel disk, where his card still sat – **Number 68: Glacial Dragon**.

Finally, Leah stepped forward. "Hello everyone, my name is Leah, and I suppose I'm the holder of Number 17, then." Like Dan, she just raised her duel disk to show off the card – **Number 17: Passion Aurora**.

"Excellent!" said Professor Usur, clapping his hands enthusiastically. "Now then, onto business." He turned to Dan and Leah, who both lowered their duel disks. "The reason I left all of you with your Numbers, as well as giving you this band, is because I have an ambition. An ambition that a few of you share already. I want to save the world."

There was a small pause.

Dan and Leah stared at him sceptically.

He went on: "The Numbers that have arrived in our fair city are an abomination, a curse, a blemish in this otherwise fine place. More than that, they are downright dangerous, as each of you have already experienced first-hand. My ambition is to clear these Numbers out of the city. I was aware that the Numbers were coming soon, so I had plenty of time to prepare the relevant equipment for-"

"Hang on," Leah interrupted. "How could you have known the Numbers were coming?"

"Good point." Matt added. "The first that any of us knew about them was when they almost killed us."

All five kids stared at Professor Usur, who seemed to be carefully considering something. Finally he said, "That's not important, young lady, what's important is that they're here now, and we must do something about them." Unconvinced, the five teens quietened and waited for him to go on. "Now then, Numbers can only be beaten in a duel by other Numbers, which is why I had to leave the two of you with your Numbers, so you could use them against others. If you didn't have them, you'd be powerless to defeat the other Number holders."

Another pause.

"Alright then," said Dan, slowly. "So we know everything. Now, what's making us go out and collecting these Numbers for you? Who are you to tell us what we can and cannot do? Our dreams are not yours." Leah looked at Dan, then back at the Professor, who suddenly found himself staring at two identically defiant faces. He would remember that moment for a long time afterwards...

He smiled. "Nothing is making you, my boy. Obviously I would never force any of you to do anything against your will. That would just be inhumane of me. However, before you answer me yay or nay, I would like to tell you all a bit about what you could accomplish."

Both Dan and Leah remained wary, but listened on. Vaguely, they were aware of how the other three were talking amongst themselves, and they realised that the Professor must've spoken to them already.

"By dueling holders, and taking their Numbers from them, you will have a chance to rescue them from suffering fates as bad as yours would've been had we not interfered. You will have a chance to help people who cannot help themselves, and are unable to fight off the Number's influence, and may not even be aware they are possessed. You will have a chance to save people from a threat that they don't understand. You will have a chance to fight very strong opponents, and become stronger each time you do as you acquire their own Numbers. My children..." He paused for effect. "...you have a chance to truly make a difference in this world."

Dan and Leah were speechless by the time he was finished. They were both thinking hard, weighing risks against reward, right against wrong – or rather, right against alternate right, if there even was a right or wrong in this situation. They looked at each other, then back at the Professor.

"Professor, can we have a minute to talk about this in private?" Leah asked.

"Why certainly, sweetheart," said Professor Usur. The two walked far enough away to be out of earshot. Once they were, the first thing Leah did was stamp her foot.

"Sweetheart?!" she hissed, as Dan started laughing. "I swear, if I meet one more patronising, stuck up-"

"Oh, stop throwing a tantrum," he laughed.

Then they hugged. And in that very moment, there was no-one else around – there was just the two of them, relishing things being back to normal between them, if only for a second. It was possibly the happiest they would be for quite a while. It was pure bliss for the both of them.

It was then that they became aware of several injuries on each other, and with a pang of guilt, realised that they had been the ones who inflicted them. Dan carefully ran his fingers over the many bruises on Leah's arms, where his Number had attacked her twice. Leah tenderly touched a series of scratches and cuts on Dan's back where he'd hit the ground from her last move. The injuries were extensive and plentiful, and they generally both looked a state, but at that moment, neither registered any sort of pain from their injuries.

When they disengaged, he said, "So, what do you think?"

"I don't trust him," she said simply, "I'm not sure what it is, but something doesn't seem right about him."

"I know what you mean." Dan replied. "I'm pretty sure most of what he's saying is true, but I'm also pretty sure he's hiding a bunch of stuff. He's certainly not trustworthy, that's for sure."

"But what about the Numbers?" she asked. "He's right about that; we do have the ability to help other infected people... should we?"

"Well definitely we should," he replied. "There's no doubting that it's what we should do, because it's right for them. Now the question is: is it the right thing for us?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Think about it. Taking up this position as... um... I'm not actually sure what you would call it, er... Number... Hunter, I guess. Anyway taking up that position would drastically change our lives. We'd become true fighters, soldiers, and that really isn't what I envisioned to do with my life. What do you think?"

Leah considered for a second. "Hmm... maybe, but also think about it from the other point of view. Ever since I was young, I've always wanted to spend my life helping and/or saving people. And I know it's exactly the same for you. I mean, think about it. That's the reason we both did lifeguard training, it's the reason I do volunteer work at a nursery, and it's the reason you became a rescue scuba diver. There's no doubt that we both have an innate desire to help people, so why not do this, where we could make a real difference to people's lives?" She paused, seeing Dan deep in thought. "What're you thinking about?"

Dan didn't answer for a moment. Then he raised his head. "So all things considered, you really want to do this?" She nodded. "Alright then." He made to turn around, but Leah grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Hang on," she said. "That doesn't mean you have to do it if you don't want to."

Dan laughed. "Ok, first of all, of course it does." She blinked. "You know I'd never let you go into something like this alone and you'd do the same for me, just like you did a year ago. And secondly, I think you're absolutely right. This is something we can do, and truly make a difference doing it." He paused for a second, then went on. "Now I know that if you can do something, it doesn't mean you should. But we really should, and if you can do something and you should do it, then there's no excuse." He grinned at her. "So either way, we're both doing this, so you might as well grin and be happy about it."

And she did smile, and she meant it.

They both turned back to the Professor. Dan addressed him. "Ok, Professor Usur, we'll help you collect the Numbers."

Professor Usur looked like a child on Christmas Day. "Fantastic! Simply superb!" He said enthusiastically. "Well then, children... from this day forwards, you will work as a team to gather up the abominations known as the Numbers. You shall be known as Team Delta! And, most importantly, your team leader will be Matt."

Matt raised his head, surprised. "Wait... what? Why me?"

The Professor turned to him. "Simple. Because you're the most motivated, and you're the strongest duelist amongst the five of you." Matt looked at Katie and James to see them both nodding. With mixed emotions, he looked back at Professor Usur, and nodded. "Lovely! Now then, all of you, come with me, and I will suit you up ready for battle."

And so it happened that the newly formed Team Delta, made up of teenagers who had only just met, set out. They didn't know it yet, but they had truly made friends for life. They also didn't know that, like others far away, they were setting out on an extremely tough journey.

The journey of the Number Hunters.

* * *

><p><strong>Fun Fact #18: The introductions are now finished (unless, of course, James and Katie decide to ever write their story, but don't hold your breathe for that). The next step is to start introducing Numbers, along with some of the other main characters. Each future story will include one or more Numbers, each being a story in its own right. Hope you enjoy them.<strong>

**Fun Fact #19: We decided to retroactively rename Professor Umur to Professor Usur, because Umur is pronounced the same as Yuma, and we can't have that.**

**Fun Fact #20: The quote that Dan used earlier about whether you "can" and/or "should" do something is a quote used by Lyra from the book Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. Please don't sue us for using that quote.**

**Fun Fact #21: Apparently sweetheart is just as bad as sweetie. Don't call her sweetheart either.**


End file.
